Inset left: Kidus Yohannes (Salt Lake City Police Department). Inset right: Candace Samples (Obituary). Background: The former Dollar Tree in Salt Lake City, Utah, behind which Yohannes fatally stabbed Samples (Google Maps).
A Utah man has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison after killing a woman during a confrontation over a stolen cellphone.
A Salt Lake County jury in August convicted 39-year-old Kidus Yohannes of aggravated murder in the November 2018 death of 20-year-old Candace Samples. Jurors also found him guilty of attempted manslaughter for stabbing a second man who intervened.
Last week, a judge sentenced Yohannes to life in prison without the possibility of parole for Samples’ killing, according to a press release from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.
He also received an additional sentence of up to five years for the nonfatal stabbing.
The attack took place on Nov. 7, 2018, behind a Dollar Tree in Salt Lake City that has since closed, authorities said.
Earlier that day, Samples took Yohannes’ cellphone while he was inside the Marmalade Branch Library across the street.
After the theft, Samples, a friend and Yohannes ended up inside the same dumpster behind the discount store, according to police. Yohannes confronted Samples about the phone, then produced a knife and “said he would use it if he did not get his phone back,” prosecutors said.
A witness watched the confrontation and ran to a nearby 7-Eleven to bring back a friend. The man returned to help, climbed into the dumpster and was immediately stabbed by Yohannes. He survived the attack, authorities said.
Another person inside the “dumpster enclosure” saw the stabbing and climbed over a wall to escape. The witness then “grabbed a large board, reentered the enclosure, and saw the defendant stabbing Ms. Sample[s],” according to the prosecutor’s office.
Following the attack, the witness who had gone for help opened the gates, allowing Yohannes to flee.
Samples and the surviving stabbing victim were taken to a nearby hospital after someone called 911. Samples had suffered 20 stab wounds to her head, arms and torso, law enforcement said. She died shortly after arriving.
“Surveillance footage from the 7-Eleven across the street from the dumpster showed the defendant with Ms. Samples entering and leaving the store together before the stabbing,” the district attorney’s release said. Police later found Yohannes and arrested him. He denied taking part in the stabbings and said he had no knowledge of or interaction with either victim.
Investigators seized Yohannes’ shoes and discovered blood on them that matched Samples’ blood.
At the sentencing hearing, the man who survived the attack spoke to the court about rebuilding his life, according to the district attorney’s office.
The couple who raised Samples also described the happiness she brought to their home as a child and the years they spent watching her grow.
“They talked about the struggles that she faced, but they also talked about the loss they have been left with now that she is gone,” the release stated. Samples’ loved ones also created a video chronicling her life, which the judge permitted them to show during the packed sentencing hearing.
Yohannes’ trial lasted three days, with jurors returning their verdict on the final day.
“We hope that Ms. Samples’ family feels they have received some measure of justice,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said. “We know it is not perfect justice, if it were perfect justice, Ms. Samples would still be in our community today.”